GEO 99/2021: Universities can continue in online mode and AFTER raising the alert status

In accordance with the provisions of Article II, point 3 of the Emergency Ordinance of the Government of Romania no. 99/2021, higher education institutions can carry out online teaching activities both during the alert state and for the entire duration of the academic year 2021-2022.

 Thus, based on university autonomy, each higher education institution can choose the regime of teaching activities, for the academic year 2021-2022 there is no obligation to carry out in physical format the educational process after raising the alert, as stated today by the Minister of Education . The existing provision in art. 40 of Law 55/2020 is, thus, a special rule in force applicable in the current context. 

At the same time, it is clear that a transition to physical education from tomorrow is purely impossible. Any transition from the online to the physical environment must involve a transition period, in which students have time, for example, to look for accommodation. 

Moreover, we remind you that some of the university accommodation is occupied, by a commendable gesture of solidarity, by students or other refugees from Ukraine. 

Last but not least, some universities have announced, in compliance with the legal framework, that the entire second semester will take place online. In this regard, there are students who have made decisions based on these university announcements, such as the fact that they have been hired.

 Thus, the decisions must be taken decentralized by each university community, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the online environment and taking into account the announcements of universities, the time left until the completion of teaching, accommodation, field of study and so on. No generic decision to continue only physically or only online, much less starting tomorrow, is not and cannot be productive.